Opera-chair



(No Model.)

H. K,. A. F. VON SPITZINGEN.

OPERA CHAIR.

N0..565,807. Patented Aug. 11, 1896.

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* UNITED STATES ATENT ()FFIcE.

HERMAN K. A. F. von SPITZINGEN, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

OPERA-CHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,807, dated August 11, 1896.

Application filed April 1, 1896. Serial No, 585,774. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, HERMAN K. A. F. VON SPITZIN'GEN, a citizen of the United States, rcsiding at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Opera-Chairs; and I do'hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improvement in opera-chairs, and it is embodied in the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and definitely pointedout in the claims.

The object of this invention is to produce what is known in the art as an opera-chair, and to provide the same with improved features whereby the seat member will be automatically raised into an oblique position and there held by friction, so that a slight lateral pressure will cause the same to assume a vertical position. I

In the accompanying drawings,wherein like letters of reference designate corresponding parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a chair. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation, and Fig. 3 is a detail view of the friction holding device and a section of the chair.

In the drawings,A designates the standards or sides of the chair, which may be of any conventional or convenient form.

Between the standards is pivoted, by the pivot-pins or bolts b, the seat member B. The pins are located adjacent to the rear of the seat and are projected into the standards.

In the rear of the pivot-pins b are the stops 0, secured on the standards, and against which the upper face of the rear of the seat engages, thereby limiting the downward movement of the seat.

The seat 13 is of a length sufficient to extend beyond the standards and the arms thereof, as is usual, and the same is provided with a weight D at its rear edge, tending to normally hold the seat in a perpendicular position, as shown in Fig. 2.

To retain the seat in an oblique position and prevent its full movement when the occupant rises, I employ by preference curved U-shaped springs F, arranged in grooves formed on the standards or sides obliquely or at an angle to the movement of the seat. These springs project slightly into the path of the seat and their curved portion is; engaged by the rear portion of the seat, the friction and strength of the spring being sufiicient to prevent the weight from moving the seat past an oblique position.

To secure the springs in place, I conveniently span their ends by staples or clips G, in which the ends are free to move.

It will be noted that the position and angular arrangement of the springs are such that the seat edge rides or moves in substantially a direct lineover the curved section, so that when pressure is placed on the seat in either direction the springs promptly yield and permit the passage of the seat.

While I have shown a convenient form of friction device, I desire it understood that other forms may be employed without departing from the nature and principle of the invention.

Chairs constructed as above described are especially desirable in the case of panics, as the seats are always normally in either an oblique or perpendicular position and when in the former position clear the aisle and the occupants may be seated without trouble or danger, and when the seat is not occupied it can be forced into a perpendicular position without trouble or inconvenience.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v 1. In an opera seat or chair the combination 'with the side standards, of a seat pivoted thereon, stops at the rear of the pivots, a weight on the rear edge of the seat, and yielding stops on the standards projecting into the path of the seat, substantially as described.

2. In an opera seat or chair the combination with the side standards, of a seat pivoted thereto, aweight on the rear of the seat, stops on the standards, and curved springs secured to the standards and projecting into the'path of the seat, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HERMAN K. A. F. VON SPITZINGEN. Witnesses:

J AMES A. BUSH, 'WM. J. MonnAN. 

